Introduction to ArcGIS for Environmental Scientists Module 3 – GIS Analysis ArcGIS Toolbox

1. Introduction to ArcGIS forEnvironmental Scientists Module 3 – GIS AnalysisArcGIS Toolbox

2. Objectives • Learn to find tools • Become familiar with some tools commonly used in spatial analysis • ESRI and third party extensions

3. Basics • Most tools require an input, output, and optional parameters • The Help panel on the right provides information on each field as you click in it • The Tool Help button opens complete documentation for the tool

4. Finding Tools - Searching • Use Geoprocessing  Search For Tools (or click the search icon ) when looking for less commonly used tools • Search by name or keyword, possible matches are shown in a dropdown list • Note that some tools are not available for all license levels (i.e. ArcInfo has all tools, but ArcEditor and ArcView do not)

5. Finding Tools – Search Results • Hover the mouse over the tool name to see a longer description • Click the name of the tool to open it • Click the path to locate the tool in the catalog window

6. Finding Tools - Browsing • You can browse for tools in both the Toolbox and Catalog windows • Commonly used tools can be added to the Geoprocessing menu for easier access (and default tools in the list can be removed) in Customize Mode

7. Some Commonly Used Tools • Clip • Intersect/Union • Buffer • Near • Frequency • Merge • Dissolve • Conversion Tools • Project • Define Projection

8. Located in Analysis Tools  Extract Used to ‘cookie cut’ one feature based on the outline of another Very useful in terms of managing storage in a project database Similar to: Exporting a selected set to a new feature class Introduction to ArcGIS

9. Located in Analysis Tools  Overlay Creates a new feature class containing features common to all inputs Attributes from all inputs are retained (optional) Similar to: Union, Identity and spatial join Introduction to ArcGIS

10. Located in Analysis Tools  Overlay Creates a new feature class containing all features from all inputs Attributes from all inputs are retained (optional) Similar to: Intersect, Identity and spatial join Introduction to ArcGIS

11. Located in Analysis Tools  Proximity Can be used on points, lines or polygons A negative buffer distance will shrink polygons Also available: Multiple Ring Buffer Tool to create multiple buffers Introduction to ArcGIS

12. Located in Analysis Tools  Proximity Usually used to find distance from point features to other points or lines Only available with ArcInfo Similar to: Point Distance Introduction to ArcGIS

13. Located in Analysis Tools  Statistics Very useful for summarizing attribute information Provides a record count of unique frequency field values even if no summary fields are entered Only available with ArcInfo Similar to: Summarizing a field (from field context menu) Introduction to ArcGIS

14. Located in Data Management Tools > General Input features do not need to be adjacent Similar to: Append Introduction to ArcGIS

15. Useful for converting data from one format to another; shapefile GDB, as well as converting between vector and raster Conversion Tools

16. Available for all tools • Right-click the tool and select Batch… Batch Mode

17. Extensions • Some tools/toolboxes are only available if the appropriate extension is licensed and turned on • Spatial Analyst, Network Analyst and 3D Analyst are some examples of Esri extensions • There are also third party extensions like XTools and ArcHydro • Extensions sometimes load new toolboxes and sometimes add new menus